Articles of War

Since this is Veteran's Day (how strange it being on a Saturday. I think it has been awhile since that has happened... right, I know, maybe 7 years, but taking into account leap years, I really don't recall), I thought I would add a more emotional piece about what is left behind in war and how it can affect us, and those who fight. Of course, I wrote this on a Memorial Day almost three years ago but I feel it applies just as well to Veteran's Day. So now, as then, I respectfully dedicate this to those who serve and have served this nation in times of peace and of war.

'Articles of War'

In an instant...
Leaping racing to their doom
charging into a deadly space
hearing a simple primal call
clinging... holding to
a peace pushing back the fear.

A promise...
Clawing hanging on the surface
wrapped within rapid thoughts
dodging traversing shattered earth
sensing the ultimate price
desperate yet determined to
honour more than words can know.

Throughout the carnage...
terrified elation for an eternal moment
torn asunder in mere seconds
cursing yearning toward a ruin
broken mangled by a thunderous end
unable to grasp
a smoldering remain of a once beating heart.

In an instant...
ten thousand photographs...
ten thousand smiles...
fragments of promises laid low
but never forgotten
buried beneath an eternal no man's land
interred within the deadly space of time.

C.